1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gas laser oscillator. More specifically, it relates to a gas flow smoothing device to smooth the gas flow in the electrical discharge region of a gas laser oscillator.
2. Description of the Related Art
High-speed axial flow gas laser oscillators are known as laser oscillators used in, for example, laser machine tools.
Comparing the high-speed axial flow gas laser oscillator to other types of gas laser oscillator, it has such characteristics as (1) it is easy to make smaller, (2) it can respond to precision cutting in single mode output. For this reason, it is widely used, particularly in machining of sheet metal.
However, in a gas laser oscillator which includes this axial flow type gas laser oscillator, the flow of gas, which is the laser medium, fluctuates considerably inside the electrical discharge region which constitutes the optical cavity, so it sometimes happens that the output beam fails to stabilize.